WP:Pronouncing Blame on the Israel Lobby

[cal04]

It was quite a boner.

University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer was in town yesterday to elaborate on his view that American Jewish groups are responsible for the war in Iraq, the destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure and many other bad things. As evidence, he cited the influence pro-Israel groups have on "John Boner, the House majority leader."

Actually, Professor, it's "BAY-ner." But Mearsheimer quickly dispensed with Boehner (R-Ohio) and moved on to Jewish groups' nefarious sway over Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who Mearsheimer called " Von Hollen."

Such gaffes would be trivial -- if Mearsheimer weren't claiming to be an authority on Washington and how power is wielded here. But Mearsheimer, with co-author Stephen Walt of Harvard's Kennedy School, set off a furious debate this spring when they argued that "the Israel Lobby" is exerting undue influence in Washington; opponents called them anti-Semitic.

By Dana Milbank
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/28/AR2006082801178.html

[Kagemusha]

1. Such gaffes would be trivial, but this is a Dana Milbank piece.

Nothing is too trivial.

Nothing.

After all, why question the substance of the argument when mocking the person is so much easier and more viscerally satisfying.

[autorank]

6. Dana Milbank is the tower of trivia, the sultan of gauche style...

...the WH Press correspondent for the Washington Post who spent all that time with Jeff Gannon in the same room, asking questions, without figure out that Gannon was a ringer or, who figured out Gannon was a ringer, and failed to report a WH plant in the press corps. He's pathetic, period. A typical hit piece. He did this to Conyers on Downing Street, making fun of Conyers having to meet in the basement. He's much of what's oh so wrong with the complicit corporate media.

[Taxloss]

2. Interesting article, thanks. n/t

[scarletwoman]

3. Nothing is too trivial to the keepers of Conventional Wisdom.

For those who deviate from the Approved Official Narrative, as Mearsheimer and Walt have dared to do, their heresy will be punished in all ways large and small.

sw

[tnlefty]

5. They were both on c-span earlier today.

From the speeches that they gave today I figure there will be another round of raking them both over the coals.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[wellst0nev0ter]

7. Quit Beating Around The Bush

Just come out and say it, Mearsheimer and Walt are a couple of repatriated German sturmpolizen cozying up to Islamic extremists in order to wage another pogrom on the Jews.

This is for those who want a less navel-gazing analyis of Mearsheimer and Walt's arguments

[Tom Joad]

8. An interesting collection of responses to M & W can be found ...

at this website.
http://www.stopaipac.org/perspectives.htm

Most of these are not 100% in agreement with their analysis, but they add other insights and thoughts worth reflecting on.

I am not myself convinced about what constitutes "US interests" as all people in the U.S. do not have the same interests... the rich elite and the working folk really have different needs, or at least perspectives.

Instead of working for "U.S. interests" we really need a foreign policy based on peace, justice, human rights for all (and the elite in this nation, mostly white, mostly non-Jewish, oppose such things, except in the rare cases where it would just serve their goals). certainly, the extremism of AIPAC's commitment to militarism means we must oppose their agenda.

AIPAC opposed any kind of working for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon for example. This wasn't in the interests of the US (with the exception of the elite, perhaps), Lebanon, or even Israelis. It amounted to just cheering a war from the sidelines, while other people suffered.